Sunday, July 14, 2013

Groggy and with heavy legs, I arrived in Hasselt, Belgium for the start of my European tour. A 5k in the neighboring town of Heusden was on the docket, and after three rather sleepless nights attempting to adjust to the time change, I toed the line. After about 600 meters, my body was not responding well and I knew it would be a long night. Finding myself in the front of a train of runners, I desperately tried to keep the pace honest, hoping that I would start feeling better and blow the cobwebs out of the system. "Relax the shoulders, find a rhythm, relax the shoulders, find a rhythm" chanted throughout my head. But the body was anything but relaxed. The rest of the race did not fair any better, but somehow, the body kept moving. With a lap to go, I was able to muster enough strength to close hard and finish third in a new personal best of 13:11. Shocked that I was able to run that time based on how I felt, I know that there is a lot more to take off this year. I just hope to be able to find the right race to run it in. Looks like I have only one possible race before the break for World Championships- a 5k in Monaco- that promises to be fast enough, but getting my name on the starting list is proving to be a difficult task. If no Monaco, my European tour will take a hiatus and I will return to New Hampshire for a few weeks before a second trek across the pond to race a few more late summer meets. So for the moment, I am in another waiting period, waiting for the green light to race the race I want. So here is to the future of waiting, and hopefully getting another chance at running the times I know I can.

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Who me?

Ben True

I'm Ben, an athlete on the Roster of In the Arena, a nonprofit organization that anchors the highest-caliber role models in underserved communities with the aim of effecting positive and lasting change in today's youth. You can view my profile on ITA's site by clicking here, or you can email me by clicking here.